 » Show promoter Air Lauderdale plans to bring back a Fort Lauderdale air show, to be called the Air Lauderdale Beach Fest, in April to coincide with Fleet Week, an annual visit by military ships to Port Everglades. |
BOCA RATON —
» Boca Raton Airport will receive $1.25 million in federal stimulus money to repair a runway.
DAVIE —
» Floridian Community Bank and its parent, Floridian Community Holdings, will buy three branches, $100 million in deposits and $110 million in loans and securities from Fort Lauderdale-based Valley Bank, bringing Floridian to seven branches in Broward and Palm Beach counties.
DELRAY BEACH —
» Biofuel company Ag-Oil plans a $20-million pilot biodiesel refinery, refining resources such as algae and jatropha seeds, on a jatropha plantation in Delray Beach.
FORT LAUDERDALE —
» Woodbridge Holdings (OTC-WDGH.PK), owner of Core Communities, the developer of Tradition in Port St. Lucie, will become a subsidiary of BFC Financial (OTC-BFCF.PK), which already had a controlling interest in Woodbridge as well as control of BankAtlantic Bancorp (NYSE-BBX).
» Broward Health Chris Evert Children’s Hospital and the Broward Health Foundation opened a Chris Evert Children’s Hospital Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Center.
» Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Starwood Capital Group closed the 500-room Sheraton Yankee Clipper Hotel in Fort Lauderdale for renovations with plans to reopen in January as The Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Beach Hotel.
» Global transportation and logistics company Amerijet International purchased a majority stake in Nations Express, a Charlotte, N.C.-based trucking company. Amerijet also announced it would lease five Boeing 767-200 cargo aircraft and that it acquired SRX Transcontinental, a Florida company specializing in ground handling operations throughout Central Asia.
NORTH PALM BEACH —
» New York private equity firm Apax Partners plans to buy Bankrate for $571 million.
PALM BEACH GARDENS —
» Lydian Private Bank, the largest Palm Beach County-based bank, raised $15 million in a private stock placement.
STUART —
» Dallas-based Vought Aircraft Industries, which employs 200 in Stuart, will add 100 jobs, paying an average of $45,000 to $50,000 a year, and build a new paint facility at Witham Field. Vought is expected to receive $300,000 in incentives from the state and Martin County.
SUNRISE —
» Simon Property Group is expanding Sawgrass Mills, adding 22,000 square feet to house Canali, Tag Heuer, Tommy Bahama and others.
VERO BEACH —
» Piper Aircraft plans to continue closing its factory for one week each month through 2009, according to an interview CEO Kevin Gould gave industry publication Flight International.
WEST PALM BEACH —
» LPL Financial plans to lay off 84 at its affiliated broker-dealer Mutual Service Corp. operation in West Palm Beach and eventually close the office.